Most Japanese curry speciality restaurants in Singapore are part of casual chains from Japan. Month-old Kuro Kare (“black curry” in Japanese) at Singapore Management University, however, touts itself as a curry joint with some fine-dining flair. At least behind the scenes.

The colourful, cheery eatery with a sheepish turtle mascot (to signify how its curries are slow-cooked, geddit?) boasts a team formerly from modern Japanese-French-Asian restaurant, Fleurette. They claim to serve “S’pore’s Best 36-Hour Japanese Curry”, this declaration proudly emblazoned on their window. 

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Run by former fine-dining restaurant Fleurette’s staff

Kuro Kare is nestled at the underground space connecting Bencoolen and Bras Basah MRT stations, and within the SMU School of Computing and Information Systems. It’s helmed by Aidan Wee (middle in photo below), 29, and Ho Bing Rru (right), 31. Aidan was co-founder of fine-diner Fleurette (together with chef-owner Tariq Helou), while Bing Rru was Fleurette’s former head chef. Another of Fleurette’s former kitchen staff Joshua Lim (left), 26, now works at Kuro too. 

Despite pivoting away from the fine-dining scene, Aidan tells 8days.sg that he puts the same amount of effort running this new biz. “My focus at Kuro Kare goes towards creating a casual dining experience,” he shares. “But it’s still the same amount of commitment.”

“We decided to leave the fine-dining scene because we were looking for something new,” says Kuro Kare’s head chef Bing Rru, who had worked at Fleurette for over two years. He also previously had a stint at one-Michelin-starred Meta Restaurant. 

It was Aidan’s idea to serve Japanese curry. For Aidan, who handles the operational parts of the biz, Japanese curry is a comforting dish to savour on any day. 

“We’re showing Japanese curry the care it deserves by using unique ingredients and applying certain fine-dining practices,”  Aidan shares. “Bing Rru and I have the experience to do that — we want to make good Japanese curry.” 

25 ingredients, slow-cooked for 36 hours 

The curry here is made using 25 ingredients, including onions, apple puree, honey, mirin, ginger, butter, roasted flour, milk, and a blend of six spices, to list a few. 

Why is it called “black curry”? Aidan tells 8days.sg: “Our curry is a little darker than usual because of the caramelised onions.” The team caramelises a lot of onions in batches, giving the curry its signature dark amber sheen and sweetness.

The curry is made “at turtle’s pace” for 36 hours. Twelve of these hours involve ageing the cooked curry in the fridge. “Ageing the curry at a super low temperature helps to round out the flavours and reduce its acidity and harshness,” Aidan explains.  

The mascot and the other gleeful characters on the menu were designed by Foreign Policy, the design firm that did up the visuals for Dumpling Darlings. 

The decor at Kuro Kare is simple and perky, to suit its main clientele of uni students: wooden tables, black metal chairs and funky posters. “We chose this space because the rent is cheaper and we can sell curries at a more affordable price point. Plus, there will always be a healthy throng of students here during the school terms,” Aidan, a Business Management graduate from SMU, explains. 

The menu

Kuro Kare serves six curry dishes: Keema Black Angus, Spanish Pork, Best Fried Chicken, Vegetable Curry, F1 Wagyu Cheek and Melty Beef. Each plate is served on koshihikari rice and homemade pickled radish. Prices start from $9.90. Choose to make it a meal by topping up $3.90 for a rich chicken bone broth and a drink.

The sides are essentially bar bites given a fun spin, including fried corn dog in a shallow pool of curry.

F1 Wagyu Cheek, $22.90 (8 DAYS Pick!) 

The priciest dish here is also the best. Melt-in-the-mouth cubes of wagyu cheeks that require hardly any chewing luxuriate in a deeply dark curry, atop plump koshihikari rice. When 8days.sg dropped by — Kuro’s curry had coffee in it, which gave the otherwise earthy, mildly spicy, flavourful sauce a distractingly bitter edge. They’ve since removed the ingredient, a good move in our book. The wagyu’s rich flavour is superior to the short rib (see below), but we're not sure the modest portion is worth the price tag.

Melty Beef, $16.90 

Attractively plated cubes of Angus beef short ribs sprinkled with colourful bubu arare (baked glutinous rice crackers). Despite being oven-braised over two days, the meat wasn’t as meltingly tender as its name promises, and there was a faint hint of gaminess. 

Best Fried Chicken, $11.90

Chicken thigh is brined overnight in milk and a spice blend before being coated in fresh Japanese breadcrumbs and deep-fried. The large panko shards lend a nice crunch to the soft and juicy chicken, which pairs pleasantly with the velvety curry. We do wish they refreshed the oil used to fry the chook in our portion, though. 

Vegetable Curry, $9.90 

The only vegetarian option available, featuring jackfruit and other seasonal pan-roasted vegetables, like daikon and eggplant. The veggies are first pickled in shio koji (a marinade of mould-inoculated grains) to draw out its natural sweetness and umami. 

Sounds great on paper, but the too-ripe, sweet and pongy jackfruit was overpowering and hijacked most of the curry's flavours. Perhaps younger, milder-tasting jackfruit (often used in local curries) would've worked better. That said, we did enjoy how tender the eggplant was.

Umami Tuna Belly, $14.90 (8 DAYS Pick!)

A fun spin on negitoro sushi, this side dish comes with hand-chopped otoro and chutoro, plus water turnip. Briny with a strong umami oomph and pairs well with seaweed crisps. Yum.

Traditional Korean Food, $9.90 

This “Korean-Japanese fusion” starter came about when Aidan and Bing Rru, both inebriated, wanted to sate their midnight hunger pangs with whatever they could find in their fridge. The result? Deep-fried sausage and mozzarella corn dog slathered with Japanese curry. A satisfyingly cheesy and chewy carnival treat with a mildly spicy dip. Not bad. 

Bottom line

We love it when fine-dining chefs take a humble dish and make it haute with their technical know-how — at least in spirit. Case in point: the excellent wagyu curry rice at French-Japanese restaurant Sage by Yasunori Doi in Orchard Plaza, grudgingly but so skilfully cooked by the volatile chef. While the wagyu curry at Kuro Kare is more refined than your typical chain restaurant’s and quite good, the other curries here don’t quite live up to their “S’pore’s Best 36-Hr Japanese Curry” claim yet. That being said, given more time to iron out opening kinks, we’re hopeful the young team will get there.  

Kuro Kare is at #B1-65 SMU School of Information Systems, 80 Stamford Road. Open daily except Sat & Sun, 11am-8.30pm. https://kurokare.net/

Additional reporting by Florence Fong

Photos: Kelvin Chia

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